Jira 4.2 Deep Dive – Keyboard Shortcuts

Work smarter, better, and faster with weekly tips and how-tos.

This post is the third in a series of “deep dives” into the latest
version of Jira. The first posts talked about the Jira experience and operation dialogs. Stay tuned to the Jira Blog for more details on Jira
4.2.

Jira keyboard shortcuts were introduced for global navigation and issue actions in Jira 4 and 4.1, respectively. In this latest release, we really took mouse-less productivity to another level by introducing the operations dialog and extending keyboard controls to the issue search page and GreenHopper planning board for a unified experience throughout Jira.

Jira Keyboard Shortcuts

Anyone familiar with Gmail or Twitter keyboard shortcuts – which are both loosely based on the original visual text editor, Vi – will find it simple to navigate Jira and work through issues without a mouse.

If you have yet to try them out, just hit ‘?’ at any time to see all available commands, or review this quick summary:

Navigating Jira

Quickly jump to any tab in Jira, by combining the ‘g’ with the first first letter of the tab name.

g then d– go to Dashboards

g then p– go to Projects

g then i – go to Issues

If you are using GreenHopper, navigate the boards similarly:

g then a – go to Planning Board (uses Agile since p was taken)

g then t – go to Task Board

g then c – go to Chart Board

g then r – go to Release Board

Other global commands include:

c – Create issue

/ – jump to Quick Search

Working Issue Lists

When working with a list of issues – from either the search results page or issue details, or GreenHopper planning board – you can navigate issues using:

j/k – Next / previous issue

o or ‘Enter’ – Open issue

u – Back to issue list

[ – toggle left-had sidebar

f – Focus on search field

Take action on the highlighted issue using:

e- Edit issue

a – Assign issue

m – Comment on issue

l – Label issue

. – Launch the Operations dialog for more actions

Mastering the Operations Dialog

The Operations dialog makes every issue action and workflow transition – including pluggable actions and custom workflows – available via the keyboard. Simply hit ‘.’ and start typing the name of the action you wish to perform.

Here are a few examples:

Type ‘.lo’ – to Log Work on an issue

Type ‘.fil’ – to Attach files to an issue

Type ‘.tas’ – to view issue on the Task Board

Type ‘.s’ – to Start Progress on an issue

Pull up the Operations dialog from the issue details page as well as any search results or GreenHopper planning board.

Using Agile Shortcuts

In addition to the all of the issue shortcuts mentioned above, the GreenHopper Planning Board also provides the following commands:

Productivity wins

For those of us using Jira – or any app for that matter – on a daily basis, mouse-less controls are essential for quickly managing a high volume of tasks. Jira keyboard shortcuts have significantly changed the way we triage newly filed bugs, manage inbound work queues and product backlogs.

What do you use keyboard shortcuts for? Share your story in the comments below.

We’ll be sharing more of our Jira 4.2 stories in the New Year, so stay tuned to the Jira Blog.Check out the Jira 4.2 Release Notes to learn more about all the new features in this release.

Get Jira 4.2 today

Download Jira 4.2 now to upgrade or get started with a free 30-day trial. You can also check out our Online Trial (also free for 30 days) or play around with our live Sandbox.

Existing Jira Hosted customers can now upgrade for free by filing a support request at http://support.atlassian.com under the ‘Enterprise Hosted’ project.